Comments on “Is Biological Death Final? Recomputing the Drake-S Equation for Postmortem Survival of Consciousness”
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies June 7, 2023 DOI: 10.24972/ijts.2023.42.1.32 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Commentary Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 1 |
| Key points | Argues that applying the Drake-S equation to survival data leaves 30.3% of variance unexplained, but that this residual cannot be reliably attributed to postmortem survival because of potential shared variance, heterogeneous evidence, and uncertainty about whether psi is a signal or an emergent system property. The author contends the approach nonetheless usefully redirects academic attention to death and dying. |
Abstract
The application of the Drake-S equation to the aggregated data suggestive of survival found 30.3% of unexplained variance in the data when other factors were applied to the dataset (including living agent psi, LAP). A number of points are raised in this commentary. These include 1. the aggregated estimate for LAP should factor in implicit psi studies (among others); 2. it is difficult to ascertain the source of psi if psi is not a signal that is caused, but rather an emergent property of a connected system; 3. there may be shared variance between sources that are attributed differently in the equation 4. different sources of evidence for survival are heterogeneous and 5. The attribution of unexplained variance to survival of consciousness is critiqued. Even if it cannot resolve the debate concerning postmortem survival of consciousness, this approach redirects serious academic attention to the study of death and dying.
Citations in the library
Cites 4
- Implications of near-death experiences for a postmaterialist psychology. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality February 1, 2010
- Guidelines and standards for the study of death and recalled experiences of death––a multidisciplinary consensus statement and proposed future directions Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences February 18, 2022
- Why Most Research Findings About Psi Are False: The Replicability Crisis, the Psi Paradox and the Myth of Sisyphus Frontiers in Psychology September 18, 2020
- Does Latent Inhibition Underpin Creativity, Positive Schizotypy, and Anomalous Cognition? Journal of Parapsychology December 1, 2020